Gale Anne Hurd, one of the producers on AMC’s hit zombie show “The Walking Dead” (along with producer/writer/director Frank Darabont), recently spoke with EW to clear up some rumors that had Darabont firing the show’s entire writing staff for season 2. According to previous reports, the writing staff for “The Walking Dead”, which is about to wrap up its first season this Sunday (see a preview clip from that episode, “TS-19″ below), has been let go, and the show will go the “freelance” route, hiring writers when needed to script the show’s second season episodes.

Says Hurd:

It’s completely inaccurate. [In] the writers’ room, there are people that have set up other projects that will be their first priority if their own series is picked up as a pilot or if it’s a series. I think [writer Charles Eglee] just decided that he wants to run his own show.

I think Frank and Robert [Kirkman, writer of the Walking Dead comic and an executive producer on the show] will sit down early next year, to begin mapping it out.

So wait, Darabont didn’t fire the writing staff, they’ve just sort of … wandered off to do their own thing? All of them? She doesn’t actually come out and say that No, no one has been fired, which seems to give credence to the reports. Honestly, not sure how much this is a denial, but there you have it.

In any case, I don’t share in all the hand-wringing that letting go of the writers will have a negative impact on the show. Anyone who has seen J. Michael Straczynski’s “Babylon 5″ will understand what I’m talking about. With Darabont still around and overseeing everything, and Kirkman clearly still in the inner circle plotting the seasons and episodes alongside Darabont, I don’t foresee a lot of problems. Of course, I could be wrong.

But anyways, here’s an extended clip from this Sunday’s “The Walking Dead” episode, 1.06, “TS-19″, which is also the final episode of season 1 before the show goes for an extended break before returning October of next year. Yup, it’ll be that long, so get your fill now.